In Wales, the numbers of new diagnoses of mouth cancer continues to rise, with over 500 new cases between 2012 and 2014.This is an increase of around one third since the turn of the millennium. The spend on cancer accounts for nearly seven per cent of all NHS expenditure in Wales and in 2014-15 this amounted to £409 million – the fourth biggest spending area for NHS Wales.

Public Health England's Stoptober campaigns aims to support people to quit smoking, and dentists can take part by encouraging their patients to do so.

What about e-cigarettes: are they recommended?

The RCGP and NICE now also recommend that e-cigarettes should be discussed as an option for smoking cessation when appropriate.

Stop Smoking Services are the most effective way for smokers to quit, but as access to these services varies and they may not be suitable for everyone, they are suggesting that e-cigarettes might be an appropriate option to try.

More tools for dentists and their teams on smoking cessation

Cancer Research UK also has a free enewsletter, Cancer Insight, which you can sign up to, with best practice advice on important cancer-related topics, as well as evidence, training materials, tools and patient resources.